A Belfast court has acquitted a British soldier, known only as Soldier F, in the only trial of a member of the British armed forces over the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings, in which 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers were shot in Derry (Londonderry), Northern Ireland.

Soldier F was found not guilty of killing two men and attempting to kill five others; the trial, held without a jury, relied on decades-old military statements that the defense argued were unreliable.

The British government formally apologized in 2010 for the “unjustified and unjustifiable” killings, acknowledging that the victims posed no threat.

Bloody Sunday remains one of the defining tragedies of the Troubles, a period of sectarian conflict over Northern Ireland’s political status, which formally ended with the 1998 peace agreement, CNN has reported.

The continued presence of British forces in Northern Ireland raises questions, particularly given the UK’s broader pattern of granting independence and reparations to former colonies while failing to fully address its long occupation of Ireland.

Many argue there is no justification for the UK to retain control over Northern Ireland, especially as historical injustices like Bloody Sunday remain unresolved, leaving the Irish population without full acknowledgment or compensation for decades of occupation and oppression.

The ongoing British presence contrasts sharply with the apologies and independence granted elsewhere, underscoring the enduring tensions over sovereignty and self-determination in Northern Ireland.